What has been missing in the heated debates about the poverty line is a clear enunciation of which basic needs should be included. The 15th Indian Labour Conference of 1957 might have come up with the most comprehensive criteria for defining the minimum wage required to meet basic needs, writes Kathyayini Chamaraj

India’s new Below Poverty Line estimate based on the Tendulkar Committee report has been hailed as being much more realistic than earlier estimates. But does it adequately count and include the poor of this nation, asks Sachin Kumar Jain

If successive governments had devoted just a fraction of the effort that has gone into propping up trade and industry into fighting hunger and malnutrition, India would not be ranked a dismal 66th in the 2008 Global Hunger Index

The World Bank claims that poverty in Asia has been halved between 1990 and 2003. But, says John Samuel, the story looks good only until you see the underbelly of this economic growth - growing inequality, violence and pollution

A recent paper in EPW clearly demonstrates the links between poverty and vulnerability caused by social identity in India. It also demonstrates the extent to which inequality is increasing. This is a recipe for political dissent, says John Samuel

Global poverty estimates report the number of people living on less than $1 or $2 a day. But purchasing power (dis)parities suggest that it could be more accurate to say that the poor in countries like India are living on less than $0.20 or $0.40 a day, says Aseem Shrivastava

The high interest rates and forced loan recovery practices of micro-finance institutions have been held responsible for the suicide of several farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It is evident that poverty makes good business sense to MFIs, writes Sudhirendar Sharma